1873 in baseball
# 1873 in baseball

The following are the baseball events of the year 1873 throughout the world.

## Champions

* National Association: Boston Base Ball Club

## National Association final standings

| National Association | W | L | GB | Pct. |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Boston Red Stockings | 43 | 16 | – | .729 |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 36 | 17 | 4.0 | .679 |
| Baltimore Canaries | 34 | 22 | 7.5 | .607 |
| New York Mutuals | 29 | 24 | 11.0 | .547 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 28 | 23 | 11.0 | .549 |
| Brooklyn Atlantics | 17 | 37 | 23.5 | .205 |
| Washington Blue Legs | 8 | 31 | 25.0 | .205 |
| Elizabeth Resolutes | 2 | 21 | 23.0 | .087 |
| Baltimore Marylands | 0 | 6 | 16.5 | .000 |

## Statistical leaders

National Association :

| Type | Name | Stat |
| - | - | - |
| AVG | Ross Barnes BOS | .431 |
| HR | Lip Pike BAL | 4 |
| RBI | Deacon White BOS | 77 |
| Wins | Al Spalding BOS | 41 |
| ERA | Cherokee Fisher ATH | 1.81 |
| Strikeouts | Bobby Mathews NYU | 79 |

## Notable seasons

* Boston Red Stockings second baseman Ross Barnes leads the NA with 138 hits, 43 stolen bases, 125 runs scored, a .431 batting average, a 1.080 OPS, and a 207 OPS+.
* Boston Red Stockings pitcher Al Spalding has a record of 41–14, leading the NA with 41 wins and 496.2 innings pitched. His 50 strikeouts rank second in the league. He has a 2.99 earned run average and a 115 ERA+.

## Events

### January–March

* March 3 – For the first time, the NA adopts a standardized ball to be used in all league games.

### April–June

* May 14 – Nearly 5,000 fans watch the upstart Philadelphia Club defeat the established Athletics 5–4 in 13 innings. Only once before, in 1865, had that many innings been played in one game.
* June 7 – Mutual and Philadelphia combine for 40 errors. The Philadelphias, aided by the Mutuals' 26 miscues, win 12–10.
* June 11 – 10,000 fans are in attendance see Philadelphia score 5 runs in the 7th inning to defeat Athletic 7–5.

### July–September

* July 4 – Leading 11–3 over Resolute of Elizabeth, the Bostons score 21 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 32–3 victory. The home-ahead rule would not be instituted for 6 more years.
* July 22 – Tom Barlow of Atlantic lays down 6 bunts, all for hits, in a game against Lord Baltimore.
* July 24 – Bob Ferguson of the Atlantic is the umpire in a game between Mutual of New York and Lord Baltimore which ends with the Mutuals scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th for an 11–10 victory. Ferguson and Mutual's Nat Hicks get into an altercation with Ferguson breaking Hicks' arm by hitting him with a bat. Ferguson requires a police escort to leave the field and Hicks will be out for 2 months due to the incident.
* August 16 – Boston defeats Philadelphia 11–8 in Chicago in front of several thousand fans. After the game, it is announced that Chicago has signed several players in hopes of placing a team in the NA for the 1874 season.

### October–December

* October 16 – Lord Baltimore turns a triple play in a losing cause against Philadelphia.
* October 22 – Boston wins the pennant for the 2nd year in a row. They clinch on the same date as they had in 1872.
* November 6 – A crosstown benefit game is played between the Philadelphia and Athletic Clubs under a proposed rule of 10 men on the field and 10 innings for a game. The extra player is placed on the infield as a right shortstop and with most observers feeling the extra player unnecessary, the rule is never implemented.

## Births

* January 10 – Chick Stahl
* January 10 – Jack O'Neill
* January 19 – Arlie Pond
* January 23 – Red Donahue
* February 5 – Jack O'Brien
* February 20 – Tom O'Brien
* March 10 – Gene DeMontreville
* March 29 – Duff Cooley
* April 7 – John McGraw
* April 22 – Frank Figgemeier
* May 23 – "Brewery" Jack Taylor
* June 13 – Walter Coleman
* July 11 – Jimmy Slagle
* July 19 – Harry Davis
* August 26 – Chick Fraser
* October 5 – Claude Ritchey
* October 9 – Bill Reidy
* November 4 – Bobby Wallace
* November 10 – Willie McGill
* November 24 – Ed Doheny
* November 29 – Jake Weimer
* December 6 – Harry Wolverton
* December 9 – Oscar Purner
* December 14 – John Anderson

## Deaths

* February 26 – Cy Bentley, 22, pitcher and right fielder for the 1872 Middletown Mansfields.
